Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Jamie John]

I've got quite a few high level Ghost Gloveworts now. Is it generally accepted that the

Spoiler

mimic

summon is the best in the game? Should I save them for that?

 

I still haven't found it, despite 

Spoiler

beating the boss version of it.

 

Are level 7-9 Ghost Gloveworts plentiful enough that you don't need to be fussy?

[kempstar]

28 minutes ago, PeteJ said:

Only had a short go yesterday, realised I had missed a fairly large part of the first river section (teleport to get higher up), so was nice to find another boss and some nice items. 

Summon levelled up another two times, yay. 

 

Weirdly I upgraded my Int by 1 and my moonveil sword jumped up by about 90 damage, whereas previous levels in Dex or int barely moved the needle. I'll never fully understand this game. 

 

While I'm absolutely head over heals in love with this game I do find the way they handle NPCs needlessly vague. A page listing all the NPCs and the dialogue they've said would be enough, and it wouldn't break the ethos of the game. 

I also gave up reading item descriptions some time ago, the moment to moment gameplay is so much more interesting than the story, so I don't have a clue what's going on. 

That is what happens on the weapon damage stats screen when you go from not meeting the weapon requirements to actually meeting them. Were you using a talisman maybe that boosted INT?

[df0]

What's your play style @Jamie John?

Mimic+10 is good (very good even) but I found as an Astrologer (mage), Mimic lacks the survivability. She's knocked down often and rarely dodges anything. Tiche+10  is my preferred one; extremely nimble, does attacks I can not perform and goes in hard. Can also close any gap with relative ease.

 

Mimic can also be a wee bit difficult to equip as it copies you. If you want to Mimic to use the spells you use it's simple. If you want Mimic to chuck different types of plasma you need too equip on yourself as well.

 

I don't have evidence for this, but especially 7 was hard to find. I don't think I ever found maybe more than 5 of each (7, 8 and 9) on my first proper play through where I visited every place. Fextralife has - of course - locations for all of em so you can hunt for em if you choose to.

 

If you're concerned about wasting an item, create a back up save, level up an Ash, play around with it and see if you like it. If not, reload the old save and try again.

 

edit: all that said, you can't go wrong with Mimic+10 to be honest. It's always a good choice. Do know Mimic requires HP to summon instead of FP. So you need a health pool of 661+.

 

[Jamie John]

Cheers @df0. I'm a pure faith build, chucking lightning spells and stoving in heads with my sacred mace. Mostly, I've been using Latenna (is that her name? The archer woman) and the Redmane Knight summon (Olga?). I've got both of those up to level 6, so I might get them to 9 and then save the +10 flower for once I've found the mimic.

[df0]

I might be wrong, but there's bells you can hand in at the woman (women?) at the Table that increases their inventory. Surely there's a bell that allows for purchasing 7 through 10 flowers.

[Minion]

48 minutes ago, Benny said:

Start a new run I guess!

 

This is what I'm doing...

[spanx]

@Jamie John if you’ve beaten the mimic tear but don’t have the summon yet….

 

Spoiler

You may need to explore the subsequent area a bit more. From memory it’s reasonably close by

 

[spanx]

I have been on a thorough rinsing of previous areas and all that open to me now are the underground area under the capital (fucking hard) and the mountain region (fucking hard). 
 

Guess it’s time to get frustrated. 
 

80 hours down, level 105. Loving it

[Jamie John]

16 minutes ago, df0 said:

I might be wrong, but there's bells you can hand in at the woman (women?) at the Table that increases their inventory. Surely there's a bell that allows for purchasing 7 through 10 flowers.

 

I've got 1-3 and 4-6, but I don't think there's one for 7-10. Those ones you have to find yourself, and there's a finite number of them.

 

2 minutes ago, spanx said:

@Jamie John if you’ve beaten the mimic tear but don’t have the summon yet….

 

  Reveal hidden contents

You may need to explore the subsequent area a bit more. From memory it’s reasonably close by

 

 

Yeah, I assumed that would be the case. I started to explore around that area but ended up getting  distracted by another path (and another and another and another). There are about four or five different routes I need to go back and explore.

[HarryBizzle]

11 hours ago, Minion said:

You don't have to kill the tortoises, I didn't use the item you make from their neck once in my run through, my second character is not hurting any tortoise dudes. Peace to the tortoises!

I haven’t killed a single tortoise and I don’t think I’ve killed a non aggressive animal since my first few hours of the game. 
 

But then I didn’t fight Priscilla, either. I guess I’m just better than all of you savages. 

[ox1973]

42 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

Cheers @df0. I'm a pure faith build, chucking lightning spells and stoving in heads with my sacred mace. Mostly, I've been using Latenna (is that her name? The archer woman) and the Redmane Knight summon (Olga?). I've got both of those up to level 6, so I might get them to 9 and then save the +10 flower for once I've found the mimic.

 

Honestly, Mimic is a step above the rest. The fact that you can equip them as you see fit to match the enemy makes them extremely versatile and when you get them to +10 they are amazingly durable.

 

Honourable mentions to:

 

Tiche - Tough, nimble and good in melee or at a distance. Absolutely top tier.

Lhutel the Headless - The first 'good' spirit ash I got. Carried me through a good chunk of the game. Tough as old boots and can teleport around kicking arse as and where required.

Fanged Imp - You know how annoying those bloody imps are in various catacombs and dungeons? Yep, you get you own gank squad to back you up.

Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff - You like lightning? You got lightning. Good as backup for non-faith builds.

Greatshield Soldier - 5 guys turtling behind their greatshields. Great for running interference while you get down to business.

 

Spoiler

And as with the smithing stones, you can find items that allow you to buy grave and ghost glovewarts (1-9) at the Round Table.

 

[Qazimod]

1 hour ago, Jamie John said:

I've got quite a few high level Ghost Gloveworts now. Is it generally accepted that the

  Hide contents

mimic

summon is the best in the game? Should I save them for that?

 

I still haven't found it, despite 

  Reveal hidden contents

beating the boss version of it.

 

Are level 7-9 Ghost Gloveworts plentiful enough that you don't need to be fussy?

 

Your first spoiler is what I used for my playthrough. It's good, but I guess it's only as good as your own build?  Mine was kind of squishy in certain battles, but at the same time I was running a Strength build that wasn't wearing amazing armour because I wanted to keep a good roll whilst still one-handing a colossal sword and having a shield available.

 

I think there's a bell-bearing for later ghost gloveworts, so that might be an option...

[Benny]

Oleg was my buddy for most of it. and the Jellyfish. Jellyfish had a habit of causing more staggers on large enemies when I was using a great mace. Not sure if the poison somehow causes more stagger buildup, but it worked a treat.

[imp]

1 hour ago, Benny said:

It's honestly perhaps a bit too "big" for additional runs. I think the other From games suit this better, as your build will more directly affect progress due to the linearity.

 

But with this it's more like coming to the end of an epic novel or TV series and not knowing what to do with yourself.

 

I'm still dreaming about The Lands Between.

I wholeheartedly recommend additional runs!

 

Thinking up a build and working out how to get all the pieces you need as early as possible is some of the most fun I’ve had in a From game. It plays entirely differently to your first venture into the lands between but is incredibly satisfying when it all comes together and you’re sitting on a +9 or +10 unique weapon before you’ve even faced Margit! Running through, ignoring enemies and cherry picking the good stuff in each dungeon feels almost subversive after the crawl to leave no stone unturned the first time through. And yeah, I definitely have a greater appreciation for enemy design now I’ve tried out a few different playstyles, seeing which are easier or harder with different weapons.

 

n.b. There is no melee weapon that makes dogs and rats any less of a pain to deal with. 

[Qazimod]

I won't be doing another run for a while, but I am tempted to go for a ranged build next time - whether that's dex+bows or putting on my robe and wizard hat. So much of my frustration came from having to be up close to a boss and not always having the visual information that would help...

[PeteJ]

1 hour ago, kempstar said:

That is what happens on the weapon damage stats screen when you go from not meeting the weapon requirements to actually meeting them. Were you using a talisman maybe that boosted INT?

Oooh. Yes I have both talismans and hats to boost int (and others). Do these not count when it comes to weapon requirements?

[Benny]

37 minutes ago, imp said:

I wholeheartedly recommend additional runs!

 

Thinking up a build and working out how to get all the pieces you need as early as possible is some of the most fun I’ve had in a From game. It plays entirely differently to your first venture into the lands between but is incredibly satisfying when it all comes together and you’re sitting on a +9 or +10 unique weapon before you’ve even faced Morgott! Running through, ignoring enemies and cherry picking the good stuff in each dungeon feels almost subversive after the crawl to leave no stone unturned the first time through. And yeah, I definitely have a greater appreciation for enemy design now I’ve tried out a few different playstyles, seeing which are easier or harder with different weapons.

 

n.b. There is no melee weapon that makes dogs and rats any less of a pain to deal with. 

 

Actually while playing the first time I was already thinking about how cool it might be on a subsequent run to cherry pick what you want with some foreknowledge of the game. And also the potential for sequence breaking with the warps is enormous. It's been designed with such a player first mindset it's just marvellous. Like, the most impenetrable yet absurdly friendly and welcoming game, paradoxically.

 

But also there is no melee weapon that can deal with those

 

Spoiler

warping out of the ground screaming motherfuckers. I think they are my most hated enemy since the singing Cthulhu guys in Bloodborne.

 

[Fused gamer]

9 hours ago, Jamie John said:

100 hours in, level 125. I mostly spent this evening exploring underground.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Did the Siofra River Aquaduct, most of the Darkroot Depths, the Ainsel River Mouth and finally wound up in Nokstella.

 

This game is fucking nuts, properly insane. It's almost *too* much, you know? Like, too much of a good thing. I spend most of my time playing it with this expression:

 

 

It's exhausting.

 

Can't wait to play tomorrow.

Elden Ring is the best game I have ever played. End of.

 

It’s frustrating and joyful in equal measures. I love it.

[Benny]

5 minutes ago, PeteJ said:

Oooh. Yes I have both talismans and hats to boost int (and others). Do these not count when it comes to weapon requirements?

 

They do. One of the most handy things about those sort of talismans is you can use them to get around weapon stat requirements. There are a number of ways to do that which just adds to the accessibility of built options in this which I love. For example:

 

Spoiler

need 10 more STR to wield that massive sword you found to be like Guts? No problem, just bung in the relevant mix in your flask of wonders, and you get to run around smashing stuff with it for a good 10 minutes.

 

[Parappa]

2 hours ago, smac said:

 

That's good to know. Like I said, I ran out of arrows early on, so I switched to farming small animals and birds to craft new bone arrows, and am picking up whatever I can to make runes so I can maybe start to level up/get more gear.

 

The small dungeon with the imps, pointed at by some long-necked dude's statue/blue glow seems do-able; I can get in so far, but end up over-healing and wasting potions by mistake by pressing the wrong button. So I don't have any red tears when I need 'em.

 

So mostly newbie errors.

Yeah its all part of the learning.  Also try mapping your potions to the shortcuts.  I have both of mine mapped with the horse whistle and a summon and it seems to work well. 

[imp]

8 minutes ago, Benny said:

 

Actually while playing the first time I was already thinking about how cool it might be on a subsequent run to cherry pick what you want with some foreknowledge of the game. And also the potential for sequence breaking with the warps is enormous. It's been designed with such a player first mindset it's just marvellous. Like, the most impenetrable yet absurdly friendly and welcoming game, paradoxically.

 

But also there is no melee weapon that can deal with those

 

  Reveal hidden contents

warping out of the ground screaming motherfuckers. I think they are my most hated enemy since the singing Cthulhu guys in Dark Souls 3

 

Hah, yeah. They’ll always be dicks!

[JPL]

48 minutes ago, ox1973 said:

 

Honestly, Mimic is a step above the rest. The fact that you can equip them as you see fit to match the enemy makes them extremely versatile and when you get them to +10 they are amazingly durable.

 

Honourable mentions to:

 

Tiche - Tough, nimble and good in melee or at a distance. Absolutely top tier.

Lhutel the Headless - The first 'good' spirit ash I got. Carried me through a good chunk of the game. Tough as old boots and can teleport around kicking arse as and where required.

Fanged Imp - You know how annoying those bloody imps are in various catacombs and dungeons? Yep, you get you own gank squad to back you up.

Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff - You like lightning? You got lightning. Good as backup for non-faith builds.

Greatshield Soldier - 5 guys turtling behind their greatshields. Great for running interference while you get down to business.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

And as with the smithing stones, you can find items that allow you to buy grave and ghost glovewarts (1-9) at the Round Table.

 

Does the mimic have the same stats as you, or let’s say you’re a DEX build, but equip STR weapons for it, then change yourself back after the summons. Would that work?

[ox1973]

As far as I'm aware it's an exact copy of 'you' at the point it is summoned so you would need to have appropriate weapons/gear equipped.

[ox1973]

Although what you can do is equip heavy armor so they can tank and then unequip after summoning so that you can float like a butterfly....

[Jamie John]

Just now, ox1973 said:

Although what you can do is equip heavy armor so they can tank and then unequip after summoning so that you can float like a butterfly....

 

Will it cycle through all of the spells/incantations you have at the time you summon it? Does it run out of FP?

[ox1973]

Yes, cycles through and uses everything (including quick items) and never runs out of FP. It's a beast.

[Benny]

Yeah it's somewhat hilarious equipping it with higher cost late game spells as its only option and just watching it go to town on everything

[ox1973]

2 minutes ago, Benny said:

Yeah it's somewhat hilarious equipping it with higher cost late game spells as its only option and just watching it go to town on everything

 

Comet Azur and Stars of Ruin is a very spicy combo.

[Benny]

4 minutes ago, ox1973 said:

 

Comet Azur and Stars of Ruin is a very spicy combo.

 

Late spoilers for mine:

 

Spoiler

Faith build, so I just equip the Plasudisax breath attack and watch the show

 

[imp]

Having your mimic cast only Ancient Death Rancor is ludicrous on anything (or anyone) that can be staggered. It basically stun locks bosses for you!